Awakening
by dreamingstate47
Summary: Post "Chosen" fic. A week after the Hellmouth was destroyed, the gang is trying to figure out what to do next. After it's all over, how will Willow adjust when all she really wants is the love of her life back? Willow/Tara
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Awakening (1/?)  
Author:** dreamingstate47  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Disclaimer:** All television shows, books, movies, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work and the characters, events, and settings thereof are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual. In particular, the characters of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.**  
Distribution:** No problem, just let me know first.  
**Feedback:** Yes please. Criticism is greatly appreciated. Here or at  
**Pairing:** Willow/Tara but with appearances from all the Scoobies  
**Summary:** Post _Chosen_ fic. A week after the Hellmouth was destroyed, the gang is trying to figure out what to do next. After it's all over, how will Willow adjust when all she really wants is the love of her life back?

Author's Note: I know that this idea has been done a few times before, but I've never found one that matches what I always imagined would follow the series finale. So here's my take on the subject. Also, this ended up having a lot more dialogue than I originally intended.

**Part One**

_Seems that I have been held in some dreaming state.  
A tourist in the waking world, never quite awake.  
No kiss, no gentle word could wake me from this slumber,  
'Til I realized that it was you who held me under._

_Felt it in my fists, in my feet, in the hollows of my eyelids,  
Shaking through my skull, through my spine, and down through my ribs._

_No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone.  
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden.  
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love,  
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love,  
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world._

_And I could hear the thunder and see the lightning crack.  
All around the world was waking, I never could go back.  
'Cause all the walls of dreaming, they were torn right open.  
And finally it seemed that the spell was broken._

_And all my bones began to shake, my eyes flew open.  
And all my bones began to shake, my eyes flew open._

_-_ Florence + The Machine - "Blinding"

* * *

A deep breath. And then, tentatively, she was reaching for the scythe, the power Buffy and Faith had spoken of not immediately apparent. But that would change. Her heart was pounding.

"Brace yourself."

Another deep breath. She hesitated. Nervous.

_Willow._

A voice, on the edge of her consciousness. Desperate. Pleading. _Scared_. Kennedy? No, the witch had not heard the voice with her ears, but had sensed it from somewhere else. From beneath. _Buffy_. There was no more time.

And then she was starting the spell.

Eyes closed. Muttered words in Latin.

"Oh. My. God."

Power from the scythe raced up her arms and into her body. And for a moment, she thought about keeping it, the familiar itch beneath her skin tempting her. She could take it. She could keep this power, make it her own. And with it she'd be able to fight back the First's army by herself. No one else would be hurt. So tempting.

_Willow._

A different voice this time. Gently chiding. She knew this voice, knew it more intimately than any other she had ever or would ever hear. _Willow_, it repeated, reverberating through her soul, filling her, soothing the itch. _Let it go, love_.

And she did.

Her body became a conduit between the scythe and the world around her. The essence flowed through her, tingling as it passed through every cell of her body and then out into the universe. The air crackled. Her hair stood on end. A bright, warm glow surrounded her.

It ended as suddenly as it had started and she fell forward, panting for breath. Dimly, she was aware of Kennedy speaking and looked up to answer before handing off the scythe and watching as the new slayer left to join the battle below.

Exhausted, she fell to her side and whispered, "That was nifty."

And then her mind, her soul, her entire being reached out to the presence she could feel surrounding her.

_Tara?_

And then an answer. Calm and comforting. _I'm here._

* * *

Willow woke slowly. She kept her eyes closed, trying to cling to the final moments of slumber. She'd been dreaming of Tara again. Since performing the spell to awaken the new slayers, the blonde witch had never been far from Willow's thoughts. There was no doubt in Willow's mind that Tara was her soul mate, the love of her life. And Willow knew she would never love anyone else the way she had loved her Tara.

Still drowsy and with eyes closed, Willow held onto the dream. This time it had been about Tara's twentieth birthday and they'd been dancing at The Bronze. Tara had been so happy that night, relieved that the Maclay demon was a myth and confident in her new found place as a member of the Scooby family. Before then, Tara had always been intentionally vague about her life prior to coming to Sunnydale, but that night, with nothing left to hide, their relationship had grown stronger - something Willow had previously thought was impossible.

Willow committed every second of the dream to memory, willing her mind and body to remember the feeling of Tara in her arms, their bodies weightless as they floated above the dance floor. She relived the quiet moments they'd spent later that night, curled around each other, bodies so close she'd thought that nothing could ever separate them.

Things were different now.

In the moments between sleep and wakefulness, she could almost feel Tara next to her. She could smell her, feel her soft hair tickling against her skin, her warm body pressed against Willow's own. But today, as she became more aware of her surroundings, the image faded away. The arm draped across her stomach was too strong, the body next to her too muscular, and the hair against her chin too coarse. The dream was over. And in its place was Kennedy.

Kennedy had offered to tether Willow down, to be her kite string so she could be free to float. And it really was a generous offer. But now, when it was all over and Kennedy - a brand new slayer - lay sleeping on her shoulder, Willow couldn't help but think that a kite that's tied down isn't _free_ to do much of anything, let alone float. And she would know. She'd had almost two years of floating. And during that time, Tara had been the wind that lifted and guided Willow. Not the string that tied her down.

It had been a week since the Hellmouth had been destroyed. A bus full of wounded girls had shown up on Angel's door step, looking for somewhere to rest and heal. After years spent fighting demons, the Scoobies had become well versed in first-aid and the combination of antiseptic, bandages and pain killers as well as slayer healing had most of the girls feeling better already. With brand new strength and energy, the girls were starting to get restless and it was clear that a plan for what to do next was needed as soon as possible.

Kennedy had wanted to use up some of her new energy _celebrating_. The first few nights, Willow had been too exhausted, the spell having left her completely drained. But after spending several full days and nights doing very little but sleep, waking up briefly to eat, the witch had regained her strength. The only problem was, after feeling Tara so vividly during the spell, Willow couldn't bring herself to have sex with someone else.

So instead, Willow had feigned sleep every night when Kennedy returned from patrol with Buffy, Faith and the other slayers who had volunteered to go. Kennedy would quietly crawl into bed next to the redhead and it wouldn't be long before Willow would feel the slayer fall into slumber beside her. The witch would drift off soon after, thoughts and memories of Tara swimming in her mind.

Finally, Willow opened her eyes, accepting that the dream was over. Through the window, she could see the sky starting to grow lighter, the sun about to rise. She looked down at the girl sleeping on her shoulder, tenderly brushing brown hair off of a peaceful face. Willow sighed. She owed Kennedy so much for helping her survive the past few months. She'd made Willow feel more alive than she had since a stray bullet had taken away everything the witch had ever wanted. But this wasn't fair to Kennedy. Because Willow would never be able to love her the way she deserved.

Slowly, Willow started to extract herself from beneath Kennedy. The slayer stirred slightly, rolling over and settling herself on her own pillow before her breathing once again evened out. The redhead straightened the tangled sheets around her girlfriend before making her way to the door and stepping out into the hall, closing it behind her as quietly as possible.

Despite the pre-dawn hour, Willow found herself heading towards the hotel's kitchen for a cup of coffee. There would be no more sleep for the witch tonight. As she neared the door, she was surprised to see Angel step through it, his face as grim as ever. When the vampire saw her, he gave her a nod and something similar to a smile before moving past her and disappearing around a corner. Willow turned back to the kitchen, carefully opening the door and immediately seeing Buffy sitting at a small table in the corner, staring at her hands, obviously lost in thought.

Quietly, trying not to disturb her best friend, Willow made her way over to the coffee maker, setting it up to make a new pot. When she was finished she turned back to the Slayer, seeing that she hadn't moved since the witch entered the room.

"Buffy? Is everything all right? I saw Angel in the hall and he looked... well actually he looked just as brood-y as normal but... Are you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, hi Will." The blonde gave her a weak smile before returning her gaze to her hands.

Willow found two mugs and filled them before seating herself at the table and pushing one of the cups towards the blonde. "Here. You look like you could use it."

Buffy muttered a quiet thank you before taking a sip of the coffee and then setting the mug back down. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, neither needing to speak to know that the other would listen when they were ready.

Finally, Buffy looked up and met her friend's inquisitive gaze. "It's nothing. He's... Angel. And the situation is what it is and isn't likely to change any time soon." A mischievous smile crossed her face, her tone becoming lighter. "What are you doing down here? Shouldn't you be in bed with your girlfriend and her pierced tongue?" At Willow's guilty look, Buffy sobered. "Willow? Did something happen?"

Then Willow was the one staring at her hands. "I heard Tara." She looked up briefly to see Buffy's shocked and confused expression. She took a deep breath and then explained, "When I was doing the spell with the scythe I hesitated. I was so afraid of going all vein-y and just making things worse and..." Willow trailed off, letting out a long sigh. She looked up and made eye contact once again with the blonde. "And then I heard you. In my head. You said my name and your voice was scared and I knew there wasn't any more time."

"We opened the seal and went down into the Hellmouth," Buffy explained. "There were so many of them, Willow. Thousands. _Millions_. And then they saw us and they were racing towards us and I knew that it wouldn't take long for them to overpower Faith, Spike and I. And the girls didn't stand a chance. I said your name but... I didn't think I like _projected_ it or whatever."

"I don't know, Buff. But it was definitely your voice. So I started doing the spell only... I don't think I can explain how intoxicating it was. Releasing the scythe's power wasn't just opening a door and letting it escape. I had to actually pull it out and into my own body and then let it go." Willow looked back down at her hands as they fiddled with her coffee cup. "I didn't want to let it go," she whispered, ashamed of the moment of weakness. She paused for a moment before rushing to explain, "I thought, if I kept the power, I could just go down into the Hellmouth myself and no one else would need to get hurt and-"

Buffy reached out to still Willow's fidgeting hands. "Will, it's okay. You did it, Willow. And you saved us. Or at least you gave the girls the power to save themselves."

"It itches, Buffy." At the blonde's confused expression, Willow continued, "The magic, it itches. When it gets bad and all I want to do is use the darkness, it itches beneath my skin. The coven taught me how to relax and breathe through it but the actual _itch_ is never going to go away."

The girls were quiet for long moments, both realizing that they hadn't really spoken about Willow's addiction and her loss of control the previous spring since the witch had returned to Sunnydale. They hadn't spoken about a lot of things. There had been no time. There was _never_ time when you lived on the Hellmouth.

Finally, Willow broke the silence. "I didn't want to let the power go. And then, the same way I'd heard your voice, I heard Tara's. She said my name and then told me to let it go. And her essence _filled_ me, Buffy." The redhead cleared her suddenly tight throat. "Did I ever tell you how we figured out you and Faith had switched bodies?"

The blonde shook her head, confused by the sudden subject change. "You said Tara figured it out. And since Tara could like," she waved her hand, gesturing to the air around her, "read auras, I always just thought she could see it."

Willow smiled and shook her head, still baffled that she had been fooled by Faith's impression of Buffy. "Kind of. I mean that's how Tara knew there was something wrong. She said that you were acting strange, so she checked. She hadn't even _met_ you! Anyways, to find out where you were, I had to go to the nether realm-"

Buffy scoffed. "The _nether_ realm? I mean... really?"

Willow laughed too. It felt good to laugh. "Trust me, it gets worse. When you project yourself onto another plane, it's very easy to get lost. And if you get lost and you can't find your way back into your body... well it's not good. So Tara needed to be my anchor, to hold onto my soul so she could pull me back. And the spell to merge our souls was kinda intense and um _intimate._"

"By 'intimate' you mean sexy right? I mean... come on 'merging your souls' so you could go to the _nether_ realm?" She laughed again. "Wait, were you two even dating yet?"

Willow blushed. "Not really. I mean kind of. But neither of us were calling it that. I knew that what I felt for her wasn't what I was supposed to feel for a friend. But I was supposed to be straight, so no, before that spell, we weren't dating, not officially at least. After though, it was pretty hard to deny that I was falling for her. Her soul, touching it like that was the most intimate thing I'd ever done. _Have_ ever done. Her essence is the purest thing I've ever known. And while I was doing the spell to awaken the slayers, she was there and she filled me and the itch went away. She told me to let the power go and I did. She was _there_, Buffy."

"I believe you, Will." The blonde reached out, laying a hand over Willow's on the table. "Are you okay?"

A shy smile covered Willow's face as she responded, "I'm _good_ Buffy. I mean... I'm a bit confused but I can _feel_ her Buff. When she was alive, even when we weren't together, when she moved out, I could always feel her with me. So I knew, if she was hurt or in trouble, I knew. And I knew that she was okay somewhere, that she loved me because there was this little bit of her that always stayed with me. Not because of a spell or anything, just because we were connected. I don't think I could ever really explain. But I haven't been able to feel her like that since..." Willow's eyes clenched closed, her brow furrowed as the fatal moment shot through her memory.

"Will, you don't have to-"

"When she..." the witch interrupted, eyes opening again. "One second she was there and she was talking to me and we were together and I could feel her connected to me. And the next, it was gone. She was just... _gone_..." Her voice cracked.

Buffy's hand tightened over her friend's, trying to offer whatever comfort she could to the grieving girl across from her. "Willow..." She sighed. "I know I haven't been a good friend to you since... well I haven't been much of a friend at all since I got back-"

"Buffy, no one blames you for that!" the redhead interrupted. "Maybe you don't remember, but you've been a bit busy..." she teased.

The Slayer laughed weakly. "Yeah I guess I have been." A few seconds passed, then the girls sobered. "I just... I know what she meant to you. She meant a lot to all of us. She was family, you know?"

"Yeah, she was..."

They didn't speak for a long time after that, both lost in their own thoughts as they sipped at their rapidly cooling coffee.

Eventually, Buffy placed her half-empty cup down on the table and looked back up at her long-time friend. "Willow," she began, "what about Kennedy?"

The redhead glanced up at Buffy. "Honestly? I don't really know." Finally, she gave up on her cold coffee, following her friend's example and setting it down. "She's... she's great and she's done so much for me..."

"But?" Buffy prompted. "I sense a but."

"_But_," the witch exhaled. "But Tara's my soul mate," she said simply, shrugging. "I know she's gone but I can feel her with me. She's all around me and I can't... I can't give Kennedy what she deserves. I can't... _love_ her. And everyone should experience at least a fraction of what I had with Tara."

"So, you're going to end it?" the Slayer asked.

"This isn't fair to her, Buffy. And it's too soon for me," was Willow's only answer.

"Hey, Will, I get it. You don't need to explain that to me." Buffy smiled and they were silent once more.

They were interrupted a few minutes later by someone entering the kitchen. Willow looked up to see her girlfriend smiling back at her. Buffy's eyes moved comically from witch to slayer and back again before pushing her chair back and standing to dump her abandoned coffee down the sink. "Well, I should try to get a couple hours sleep before everyone else wakes up. That coffee wasn't enough to keep me up all day and Giles wants to have a meeting later to discuss what we should do next." The Slayer returned to the table, laying a hand on Willow's shoulder and giving a gentle squeeze before smiling at Kennedy and moving towards to door. "I'll see you later."

When they were alone, Willow followed Buffy's lead, standing to empty her mug and refill it with fresh coffee from the carafe. As she stood at the counter, she felt two arms circle her waist. "I missed you when I woke up," Kennedy murmured into her ear. Willow felt a hand come up to move her hair from her neck, followed by lips pressed against her skin.

Willow couldn't stop her body from tensing against the slayer. Kennedy moved away from her abruptly, leaning against the counter, arms crossed. "What's going on, Red? You've been avoiding me."

"Avoiding? I haven't been avoiding. I've been un-avoidy-Willow. Yep that's me, completely un-avoidy!" The redhead's voice was at least two octaves higher than normal.

"Willow!" Kennedy interrupted, irritated. "Just tell me what's going on."

Willow took a deep breath. "We need to talk."

* * *

Buffy groaned as her nap was interrupted by a knock on the door. She looked over at her sister, sprawled out on the bed on the other side of the room. The girl didn't even flinch when a second knock sounded through the room. Dawn could sleep through just about anything.

A third knock finally got Buffy moving, crawling out of the bed and moving to open the door. She stepped back, surprised by the sight before her. "Willow?" The redhead stood with a shopping bag full of clothing hanging limply from her wrist. Her eyes were blood shot, evidence of tears on her face. "Willow, are you okay?"

"Umm..." the witch tried to speak but her voice caught in her throat. She swallowed, then tried again, "I uh need a new room to stay in. Do you mind if I stay here with you and Dawn?"

Buffy immediately reached out to take the bag from Willow, pulling her friend into a tight hug. "Of course, Will." The Slayer released her, stepping back to let the redhead enter the room. "Come on in."


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: Awakening (2/?)  
Author:** dreamingstate47  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Disclaimer:** All television shows, books, movies, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work and the characters, events, and settings thereof are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual. In particular, the characters, settings and plot of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.**  
Pairing:** Willow/Tara but with appearances from all the Scoobies  
**Summary:** Post _Chosen_ fic. A week after the Hellmouth was destroyed, the gang is trying to figure out what to do next. After it's all over, how will Willow adjust when all she really wants is the love of her life back?

**Author's Note**: First, thank you to everyone who has read and commented. Secondly, I never actually watched _Angel_ (except for the occasional cross-over episode) so I don't know very much about the show. All that I really know is what I've picked up from reading other stories so I don't really know what his hotel actually looks like. Sorry if any descriptions are way off.

**EDITED BECAUSE I ACCIDENTALLY MISSED THE LAST (KIND OF IMPORTANT) LINE**

**Part Two**

_"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival."_

- C.S. Lewis

* * *

Willow hadn't said much since entering the hotel room. Buffy had immediately ushered the quiet girl over to the empty bed and then sat down with her back against the headboard and placed a pillow in her lap, gesturing for her friend to rest her head on it. Tears had once again started to flow from the witch's eyes, and Buffy had tried to comfort her, running a soothing hand through red hair. The Slayer hadn't been surprised when Willow had haltingly confirmed that she'd broken up with Kennedy, relaying the brunette's initial anger and eventual grudging acceptance that the redhead had made up her mind. It was obvious that despite the breakup being Willow's idea, the witch was still upset about hurting her now ex-girlfriend. It hadn't taken long for her to fall into a restless slumber after her emotionally exhausting morning and Buffy had spent the past hour softly stroking her friend's hair and watching her sleep.

Buffy couldn't remember the last time she'd taken care of her friend like this. There was never enough time for the Slayer to stop and make sure that her friends - her family - were okay. It took all her energy just to try to keep as many of them alive as she could. And even then she wasn't always successful.

Her earlier conversation with Willow had highlighted just how much Buffy had failed the witch over the past year. Well... more than a year, if she was being honest with herself. The Slayer had been angry with her friends for bringing her back after she died, never stopping to consider how hard they had worked to try to keep the Hellmouth under control in her absence or the price that accessing such dark magic would eventually cost Willow. Then, when Buffy first found out Tara had been killed, she hadn't shown her friend compassion but had quickly skipped to righteous anger and indignation at what Willow intended to do to Warren. Now the blonde wondered if things would have played out any differently if she'd stopped for a moment to show the grieving witch any sympathy.

Upon Willow's return to Sunnydale, Buffy had never discussed the events of the previous spring with her friend although the Slayer often missed Tara's calming presence. And instead of trying to ease the witch gently back into the Scooby life, the blonde had spent most of the past months condemning Willow for being too afraid to use her power in their fight against The First.

Buffy shook her head in self-deprecation. Because after everything, Willow had ended up saving them all.

She would start doing better, Buffy promised herself. She looked over at the still-sleeping form of her sister in the other bed. For all of them, she would start doing better. After all, she wasn't the only Slayer anymore.

The room was silent for a few more minutes, with only the sound of an occasional snore and the steady breathing from the two sleeping girls breaking the morning quiet. Eventually, Buffy heard movement from the other bed, turning to see Dawn slowly sitting up, rubbing at her eyes.

As the teen caught sight of the redhead curled up next to her sister, Dawn immediately became alert. "Buffy? What's going on? Did something happen? Did someone get hurt?" Years of living on the Hellmouth had Dawn's voice already full of panic, her mind instantly jumping to the worst case scenario.

"Shh, it's okay," Buffy whispered, looking back down at Willow to make sure the outburst hadn't disturbed her. "She broke up with Kennedy this morning, so she'll be bunking with us for a while. But everything is all right."

"She broke up with Kennedy?" Dawn's excitement was obvious and Buffy gave her a chastising look. "I mean, she broke up with Kennedy?" the teen tried again, a forced sympathy lacing her voice. "Is she," she gave a half-hearted cough, "is she okay?"

"Dawn..." Buffy half-laughed, half-warned.

"I know," the teen mumbled, looking genuinely guilty for her outburst. "Kennedy seems nice, I guess. But Willow never seemed happy with her. Not the way she was with... It's just Kennedy isn't... she's not..."

"Tara."

At the sound of Willow's voice, both Summers girls shifted their gazes to the redhead as she sat up on the bed next to Buffy. "Hey, sorry we woke you up," the blonde said.

Willow gave a weak smile as she reached up to rub her eyes. "You let me use you as a pillow, Buffy. It's okay that you woke me up. Besides it's already..." She looked around for a clock, spotting one on the bedside table. "Nine o'clock? Really? It's only nine? I've already had two cups of coffee, broken up with my girlfriend and had an hour long nap this morning and it's only nine? Wow. Even for me, that's a lot."

"I'm sorry about you and Kennedy," Dawn said apologetically. "And I'm sorry about what I said before. I just want you to be happy..."

"Oh, Dawnie, I know you do." Willow's affection for the teenager was obvious in her voice. "And you're right, Kennedy isn't Tara." A sad smile came over her face. "Nobody is. Kinda why I can't be in a relationship with anyone else right now."

Dawn had flown out of her bed and across the room before the other two women could prepare themselves and Buffy groaned as the teen flung herself on top of them, embracing the redhead. "I'm so sorry, Willow."

Buffy watched the two girls for a few moments before finally clearing her throat and announcing, "Hey, guys? I hate to interrupt, but Dawn you're kind of squishing me."

Dawn pushed herself up and moved to sit cross-legged at the end of the bed. "Aw, come on, Buffy. What happened to your Slayer strength? You must be getting old," she answered, easily falling into their traditional form of sisterly bantering. "Hey!" the teen objected as the Slayer playfully swatted at her knee.

"Do I need to separate you two? Because I will," the witch warned, giving the sisters her best attempt at an authoritative glare.

The Summers girls both sat perfectly silent for a few seconds before finally dissolving into a fit of giggles at the mock-stern look Willow was giving them.

"So, I was thinking," Buffy said after the girls had settled down, "after the meeting later, we should go shopping. Maybe stop somewhere and get mochas. It's been a long time since we've had a day for just us girls. Unless, you don't feel up to going out. I'm sure we could find some movies or something and we could just hang out here. Whatever you want, Will."

"Shopping is probably a good idea. I was still sleeping off my witch-y hangover during the last shopping trip so I've only got a few things that the others picked up for me," Willow answered before playfully adding, "And I just _know_ it's going to take you a few trips to get your wardrobe back up to snuff, Buff."

"Am I coming too?" Dawn asked eagerly. "Please let me come too. Whoever picked out these clothes for me forgot that I'm not twelve years old anymore. I mean, just look at these pants," the teen gestured to her pajamas, "they don't even reach my ankles! I might be able to work with the skirt, but most of it just isn't wearable."

Buffy's eyes narrowed, suspicious. "Let me see that skirt."

The teen reluctantly swung her legs off the bed and made her way to a shopping bag sitting in the corner of the room, rifling through it before returning with an incredibly short jean skirt.

"Yeah, you're definitely coming with us. There's no way I'm letting my little sister out in public in something that short!" The Slayer snatched the skirt away from the teen.

"I don't think 'little' is the right word, Buffy. Younger, yes, but I'm taller than _you_," Dawn teased.

"Oh, the height card. _Real_ mature there, Dawn," Buffy retaliated.

Willow just leaned back against the headboard, shaking her head as the girls continued bickering. Things were almost starting to feel normal again.

* * *

"I'm sure we can all agree that it is imperative that we come up with some sort of plan for what to do next," Giles began as everyone situated themselves in the cramped space of Wesley's office.

Buffy, Willow and Xander were all seated on a couch against one of the walls, with Dawn perched on one of the arms. Giles sat at Wesley's desk, various texts and pieces of paper spread out over the table, evidence of the research he'd been conducting during the past week in Angel's hotel. Across from the Watcher, Principle Wood was settled stiffly into a wing-back chair, one hand resting gingerly over his wounded abdomen. Faith was leaning nonchalantly against the door-jamb, arms crossed coolly across her chest. A few of the new Slayers were scattered around the room, sitting on the floor and leaning against the walls including Kennedy standing stiffly in the corner of the office, obviously trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and her ex-girlfriend.

"I've done quite a bit of research and had several phone calls with the coven in England, and I believe it's safe to say that we won't be having any more problems with The First any time soon-"

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Buffy interrupted. "Hold up! We won! We stopped the apocalypse, we destroyed the Hellmouth, we won! Shouldn't we be done with The First?"

"Yes, well," the Watcher reached up to remove his glasses, "I'm afraid it's not that simple. We beat its army but we didn't destroy The First itself. The First is non corporeal, the source of all evil. As far as I can tell, there _is_ no way to completely destroy it."

"So you're saying The First is going to keep going around wearing dead-people faces?" Dawn asked.

"I apologize, I didn't speak clearly before. We have seriously weakened The First, destroyed its resources and by so doing have left it incapacitated," Giles clarified. "When I say that The First won't be causing us problems any time soon, I was speaking in terms of decades, possibly centuries, not weeks or months."

The tension that had been building in the room quickly dissipated with Giles' reassurances.

"Now, the next order of business," the Watcher continued, "is the matter of the new Slayers. There are hundreds of them, all with super-human strength and no idea what to do with it and no guidance to keep them from abusing their power. We need to devise a plan to locate them all and train them."

"Well I can help with the locating," Willow raised her hand. "I can kind of sense them. There's probably a spell I can use to give us specific locations for them."

"But what are we going to do with them?" Buffy asked. "I don't want a repeat of the over-crowded house deal. Not to mention the fact that the house is actually gone."

"Along with the rest of Sunnydale," Dawn added.

"There's also the problem that the entire Watchers' Council has been destroyed," Giles added. "And even if the Council was still in existence, the number of Slayers would never allow for the traditional one-on-one training that has been in use for centuries. I'm afraid what we're facing is quite unprecedented."

"Isn't the answer kinda obvious?" Dawn spoke up. "We're talking about a bunch of teenagers right? So we just make some sort of Slayer High. We set up a school somewhere and we train them as a class instead of individually. We don't have Watchers so we can train some new ones too. Buffy and Faith can teach the classes for now. Maybe some of the other girls can help too."

The room was silent for a few seconds. Then suddenly everyone was talking all at once, voicing their opinions. During the chaos, Xander reached up to pat Dawn's leg proudly. "That's my girl," he said quietly so only she and Willow heard.

Giles held up a hand motioning for quiet. "Can we try to speak one at a time, please? Now, Dawn, I think a school is a good idea. Of course that raises many logistical questions: finding a location, convincing the girls' parents to let them train with us. But unless anyone else has any other ideas, that's the only efficient solution I can see." Giles paused to allow everyone a chance to offer up another possibility.

"I can't see any other options," Buffy said, "but I do have a suggestion, both as a convenience for the girls and as a way to get parents to agree. Is there a way that we could make the school a certifiable high school? Like give them the normal math, English, history classes and stuff and then also have Slayer classes? That way they can have some semblance of normal lives. And it would definitely make their lives easier if they can say to their teachers 'a slime demon destroyed my homework' and have the teachers know that they're not just making up stories. And there's no way parents would agree to us taking their kids away if it's going to interfere with their schooling. The only other way we'd get them to come is if it were a summer program."

Giles was quiet for a moment, mulling over the idea before he responded, "It's a good idea but I'm not sure if it's entirely feasible. We'd need teachers, not to mention government approval. I'm not sure we'd be able to keep the nature of the school a secret. Robin, you're an educator. What do you think?"

"I'm not sure about the government part, but I don't think finding teachers would be as difficult as you might think," the principal answered. "I was raised by a Watcher but I became a principal. There must be others who know about all of this and became teachers. Maybe other friends and relatives of Watchers and previous Slayers."

"Perhaps..."

"And doesn't the Council have connections in the government?" Buffy interjected. "When they came to test us while we were fighting Glory, they said they could take away your green card, Giles. They must have contacts, right?"

"The Council did have contacts within various governments, but the Council was destroyed," the Watcher reminded the group. "I'm not sure there's enough leverage left to make the school possible. I suppose I can make a few phone calls. At the very least, as the last remaining Watcher, I do have access to the Council's remaining resources. Their main facility and library are gone, but we can use their funds and they do have other properties in England, one of which could serve as a possible location for the school."

"Great!" Xander announced, motioning to stand up. "You'll do your Watcher-y thing, Willow will do her witch-y thing and we'll meet again later to figure out what happens next."

"I'm afraid there is one last issue." Xander obediently plopped back down between Willow and Dawn at Giles' words. "There are a dozen more Hellmouths scattered around the globe and countless cities with large populations of demons. In particular, the destruction of Sunnydale has caused the demon activity in the nearest Hellmouth, in Cleveland, to increase to higher levels than it has seen in years. The sooner we can get a Slayer in Cleveland, the better."

For the first time since the beginning of the meeting, Faith stepped away from the door and further into the room. "Guess that means I'm going to Cleveland, then. You need B at this school of yours and none of the other girls are ready to take on a Hellmouth by themselves."

"Actually, Faith, I'm not sure that you're the best choice for this," Giles interjected.

"What is it, G-man? Don't want to leave me unsupervised?" Faith asked with her normal harsh bravado.

"Quite the opposite, Faith," the Watcher clarified. "With your unique history as a Slayer, I think you will be quite invaluable as a role model for the new girls. We'll be dealing with hundreds of girls, all with different personalities. While I believe that Slayers aren't chosen at random and that there must be some spark of desire to do good within them, it's safe to assume that some of the girls will be tempted to use their abilities for their own purposes. And I think you'll be more suited to get through to them than either Buffy or I."

To Willow, Faith looked almost embarrassed for a moment before she grinned smugly at Buffy, nudging the other Slayer playfully with her elbow. "You hear that, B? I'm an invaluable role model. Watcher-man said so."

"I heard, Faith." For a moment, Willow could see a small, reluctant smile grace the blonde's face before it quickly disappeared.

"Didn't know you thought so much of me, G-man," the dark Slayer teased.

"Yes, well," Giles coughed uncomfortably, "let's not exaggerate things. And that does still leave the matter of deciding on someone else to go to Cleveland."

"I'll go."

All eyes in the room turned to the sullen Slayer standing in the corner.

"I'll go," Kennedy repeated. "I was trained by my Watcher for years before the bringers got to him. And I'm one of the oldest girls here. I've finished high school. I'm ready to go."

"Kennedy, nobody is asking you to-" Willow started to object.

"This doesn't have anything to do with you, Red! You've made it clear that you don't want me around, so just back off!"

The room fell into an awkward silence after Kennedy's outburst, almost everyone looking away from the tense scene. Xander's eye flew back and forth from his friend to the angry Slayer before leaning over to whisper in Willow's ear, "Did I miss something?"

Giles cleared his throat. "Yes, well," his hands busily cleaned his glasses before he calmly put them on again, "I think Kennedy would be a good choice, provided you're sure you want to go." The brunette just gave a terse nod. "Very well, then. We should also find a few more volunteers from the older, more experienced girls to go with you. A sort of squad, if you will. And I think perhaps you should spend some extra time patrolling with Buffy and Faith in the next week or so to prepare yourselves. We'll also need to see if we can find a Watcher to accompany you."

"Actually, Giles," Robin interrupted, "I'd be willing to go with them to Cleveland. You'll need to focus all your energy on getting the school up and running. And if there aren't any other Watchers left, I'm the next best thing. After my mother died, I was raised by a Watcher. I've been trained in various forms of combat and with different weapons. I've read texts on demonology and can read several of the ancient languages. And I've been free-lancing in hunting demons for my entire adult life. I think given our limited number of personnel, I'd be more useful out in the field. And of course, I'll help with setting up the school in any way I can, try to find some teachers, but I don't think you'll need me there."

The principal and the Watcher made eye contact, before the Englishman nodded. "Now, I think that's everything for today, unless anyone else has something to say?" A wave of head-shakes past through the room and Giles continued, "We should gather the rest of the rookie Slayers together and inform them of our intentions. And perhaps you should take them out for a patrol tonight, Buffy."

Most of the group filtered out of the room, Willow calling helplessly after Kennedy as the brunette stormed away. Soon, only the Scoobies remained and it wasn't long before Xander asked, "So what's up with you and Kennedy, Will? There was some serious tension between you two."

"I broke up with her," the witch answered simply. "I can't give her what she needs and it's too soon for me."

Xander wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulder as they sat on the couch. "And judging by her display, I'm guessing she didn't take it well?"

"She..." Willow trailed off. "She got kinda angry. She didn't really understand why I was doing this all of a sudden, thought I was being ridiculous. By the end of the conversation I think she understood a bit, but I can't blame her for being upset. I tried to thank her for everything she's done for me, but she just told me to get me things out of her room and then left for a walk. And now... I guess she's going to Cleveland to get away from me. I wasn't trying to hurt her..." The guilt was obvious in the redhead's voice.

"I know, Willster. You were just trying to do the right thing." Xander comforted.

"Xander's right, Will," Buffy added. "She might be upset now, but it's better that you didn't string her along if you don't think she's right for you."

"Thanks, guys," Willow said quietly. They were quiet for a few seconds before the witch changed the subject. "So Giles," she addressed the Watcher who had buried his head in a book during the private conversation, "I'll get started on finding a spell that will give us locations for the other Slayers. Is there anything else you need us to do?"

"Thank you, Willow. I'm afraid that right now, there isn't really much we can do until I speak with some of my contacts. I'm going to make a few phone calls and try to find out what it will take to get this school ready. For now, you should all just try to relax."

"Quick, run!" Dawn joked, leaping out of her seat. "Before he changes his mind!"

The others laughed as they followed the teen out of the office, leaving the Watcher shaking his head.

* * *

"So do you think that I'll be able to go to this school?" Dawn asked as she walked down the busy Los Angeles street, shopping bags held firmly in her hands. "I mean, obviously I'm coming with you guys and it would definitely simplify things if I could just attend our school if it's going to have normal classes. And how awesome would it be to actually get credit for being a mini-Watcher?"

"I'm not sure, Dawn. I don't think any of us really know how this is going to work," Willow answered. "What do you think, Buff?" It was then, that Willow and Dawn noticed that they'd lost the petite blonde. Stopping, they looked back the way they came, spotting the Slayer staring mystified through a shop window half a block behind them. "Buffy?"

"Are those not the most _gorgeous_ boots you've ever seen?" Buffy asked as they approached, pointing through the window.

"I think you're drooling," Dawn teased.

Willow followed her friend's gaze through the glass, easily finding the footwear in question. They were black, Italian leather designer boots and the price tag next to them testified to their high-end quality. The witch turned back to her friend, seeing the blonde make a move for the shop entrance. "Buffy! They're over two hundred dollars! There's no way you'd be able to justify to Giles buying two hundred dollar boots with his credit card!" She grabbed onto Buffy's arm pulling her down the street.

"But the boots!" Buffy complained as she was dragged away. "They're so pretty. Please, Willow?"

Dawn laughed as she fell into step next to them. "And people say that _I_ whine."

"Sorry, Buff, but we're on a budget," Willow tried to reason with the Slayer, receiving a pathetic pout in response. Switching tactics, she pointed to a coffee shop on the other side of the street. "Come on, let's go get you a mocha. It'll help, I promise."

The blonde reluctantly allowed herself to be lead into the coffee house, Dawn giggling as she followed along behind them.

None of them noticed the woman who was following them, an enigmatic smile covering her face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: Awakening (3/?)  
Author:** dreamingstate47  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Disclaimer:** All television shows, books, movies, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work and the characters, events, and settings thereof are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual. In particular, the characters, settings and plot of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.**  
Pairing:** Willow/Tara but with appearances from all the Scoobies  
**Summary:** Post _Chosen_ fic. A week after the Hellmouth was destroyed, the gang is trying to figure out what to do next. After it's all over, how will Willow adjust when all she really wants is the love of her life back?

**Author's Note:** First, thanks to everyone who has read and commented. Secondly, I had a bit of a mix up last time and managed to miss the last line when I was posting (still not quite sure how... something about copying and pasting, I guess). So for anybody who read it before I caught the mistake...

_Previously..._

_"Sorry, Buff, but we're on a budget," Willow tried to reason with the Slayer, receiving a pathetic pout in response. Switching tactics, she pointed to a coffee shop on the other side of the street. "Come on, let's go get you a mocha. It'll help, I promise."_

_The blonde reluctantly allowed herself to be lead into the coffee house, Dawn giggling as she followed along behind them._

_None of them noticed the woman who was following them, an enigmatic smile covering her face._

* * *

**Part Three**

_"For this is what it means to be a king: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there's hunger in the land... to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land."_

- King Lune in _The Horse and His Boy_ by C.S. Lewis

* * *

The scythe cut cleanly through the vampire's neck and Buffy clenched her mouth and eyes closed as a cloud of dust exploded around her. She turned back towards the rest of the group, opening her eyes in time to see Kennedy deftly stake the last vampire from the mixed gang of demons that ambushed them in the alley.

"Is everybody all right?" Buffy asked, surveying the scene before her, scanning the girls for injury. She quickly made her way to a brown-haired girl who was slumped against a brick wall, her breathing obviously laboured. "Hannah, what happened? Are you hurt?"

"My ribs..." the injured girl wheezed. "Jess kicked... my ribs..."

The redheaded Slayer in question was kneeling on Hannah's other side and at Buffy's questioning look began to explain, "I was sort of tied up with one of the vamps and I was aiming a kick at his ribs... and I guess Hannah came up behind him and staked him because all of a sudden the vamp was dust and my leg hit her instead." Jess reached a hand up, gently stroking Hannah's sweaty hair off her forehead in an effort to comfort her. "Buffy, _all_ my strength was behind that kick..." The guilt and concern on the rookie Slayer's face was obvious.

"Kennedy," Buffy called and the brunette took a step towards the girls huddled on the ground. "This is your squad. What should we do?"

Another week had passed since Kennedy had volunteered to head up the team going to Cleveland. In that time, four more senior rookie Slayers - "Isn't that an oxymoron?" Xander had joked - had agreed to join the squad.

The four young women had almost identical histories. They'd been identified as Potential Slayers by the Council when they were teenagers and had endured at least some preliminary training while they were in high school. But as time went on and they hadn't been called, their Watchers had abandoned them in favour of younger girls. The forgotten Potentials had returned to their ordinary lives until they'd received word about The First's Bringers and one by one had shown up in Sunnydale seeking protection and ready to help.

As the only Potentials who had already graduated from high school, Kennedy and the other four women had instantly gravitated towards each other, eating meals together and spending extra time sparring after their mandatory training with the other girls. So when it had been announced that Kennedy would be leading a squad on the Cleveland Hellmouth and was looking for a few girls to accompany her, the other four had promptly volunteered.

Over the past week, Buffy and Faith had taken turns patrolling with the new squad, giving them two very different perspectives on Slaying. Both had tried to take a back seat on the patrols, letting the girls make decisions for themselves and do most of the fighting, only stepping in during emergencies. So it wasn't unusual that Buffy was now asking Kennedy to take charge of the team.

"Luce!" the squad leader beckoned a bottle blonde over from where she had been standing guard, watching for another ambush. "You have first-aid training, right?" Kennedy asked as Lucy approached.

"Sure do!" the Slayer answered in her normal bubbly way. "How can I help?"

Kennedy just pointed at the injured girl sitting on the ground and Buffy moved out of the way so the rookie had space to work. After a few minutes of gingerly prodding Hannah's side, Lucy stood up and announced, "I don't think they're broken but she might have a slight fracture. At the very least, she'll have one _very_ attractive bruise and will be sore for a few days but I don't think it's anything Slayer healing and some rest won't fix. We should be able to move her without making it worse."

"Okay..." Kennedy let out a puff of air, thinking for a moment before handing out orders. "Okay. We're heading back to the hotel. Jess, Luce, I want you to help Hannah walk. I want both of you with stakes in hand. If we run into any trouble, you two take care of her. I'm gonna go first. Meg, you follow behind the others, make sure nothing sneaks up on us." Kennedy looked to Buffy for a moment, getting a nod of approval from the blonde.

While Hannah was helped to her feet, Buffy pulled out her cell phone, noticing that a text from Willow was waiting for her. She read it and then informed the rest of the squad, "Looks like Faith and the others got ambushed too. They're fine and back at the hotel but they said we should keep an eye out for organized demon activity." She laughed humourlessly, looking around at the four demon corpses lying on the ground. There was no evidence of the vampires that had accompanied them, but years of experience meant Buffy knew it was unusual to see this kind of cooperation between demon species. "A bit late with the warning... Anyways, Giles and Wood want to discuss the situation as soon as possible so we better get moving."

The squad fell into formation and began making their way out of the alley and onto the main street. Buffy stepped up next to Kennedy, walking alongside the other Slayer. "You're doing well," the blonde commented. "But there are still a couple things you should work on as a squad. Outside of battle, you're doing a good job of organizing them, but during combat you're not communicating with each other."

"It's _battle_, Buffy. How much _communicating_ do you expect us to do?" Kennedy responded defensively.

Buffy nodded in acknowledgement before explaining, "You're right. It's not exactly a good time to be sharing life stories. But accidents like what happened with Jess and Hannah tonight don't need to happen. I'm not saying they're completely avoidable, because they're not, but you should work a bit more on making sure that everyone is aware of what the others are doing so that you don't end up hurting each other instead of the bad guys. It's no good patrolling as a group if you're doing the vamps' job for them. Now, with a bit more experience you'll be more familiar with each other, but right now you're not even used to your own capabilities. So just try to talk a bit more, okay?"

Kennedy just grunted and Buffy interpreted that to mean that the brunette would bring it up with her team later.

"One other thing," Buffy continued. "You should work on honing your senses. I'm not talking about Slayer vision or Slayer hearing. There's a kind of sense you should be getting whenever a demon is around you. Like a spidey-sense. If you pay attention to it, you can get a bit more of a warning before an ambush. It took me a while to get used to using it, but once you do, you can avoid getting surrounded in a narrow alley like we did tonight."

Kennedy spun towards Buffy, accusation lacing her voice as she spoke, "Are you saying that you knew they were there before we went down there? We could have had a better plan of attack!"

Buffy managed to keep her voice calm as she answered, "In Cleveland I won't be there to keep an eye on you. You've got to learn how to notice things yourself. I'm just here to make sure none of you get yourselves killed while you're trying to figure things out. A big part of learning how to do this job is making mistakes. And like I said," she smiled encouragingly, "so far you're doing well. I'm just trying to give you some areas to improve on."

They walked along in silence for a couple more blocks before Kennedy stopped suddenly. She turned to Buffy. "Is that the kind of thing you're talking about?" she asked.

"Pretty much, yeah," Buffy answered, referring to the tingling sensation that was running up and down her spine. They both turned around to see two vampires and a blue demon with waving tentacles approaching behind the squad.

"Meg!" Kennedy called as the demons drew up behind the other Slayer. The squad leader drew her sword and rushed towards their attackers. "Luce, Jess, stay back with Hannah. I've got the vamps. Meg, you take that blue thing. Remember, go for its head, not the tentacles."

After a short skirmish, all that remained of the demons was a pile of dust and a corpse that was oozing a thick blue sludge. Meg nudged it with her foot and then took a step back. "Now that's just nasty," she said in a thick southern drawl.

"Great!" Buffy praised from where she stood next to Lucy. "That's exactly what I was talking abo-"

She didn't get a chance to complete her sentence, as suddenly she disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

It had only taken a little over a day for Willow to find a spell that would help her locate newly awoken Slayers. She had simply modified a spell that the Watchers' Council had been using for decades to identify Potentials. Unfortunately, however, the spell only provided Willow with a list of names rather than the girls' geographical locations. Even with two brand new laptops - both purchased with the Council's newly accessed funds - finding contact information for each individual Slayer was turning out to be a tedious task.

At first, Dawn had used one of the computers to help Willow work through her long list of names. But when Giles had announced at breakfast three days prior that his contact within the English government had come through for him and they'd been granted approval to open a 'boarding school for girls with special skills', the teenager had been recruited in helping Giles and Wood cross-reference relatives of previous Watchers and Slayers with a list of licensed teachers.

With plans to have the school up and running by September and the high concentration of Slayers at the Hyperion causing unwanted attention by Los Angeles' demon population, it had been decided that the younger girls should all be sent home for the summer. Aside from Kennedy's squad, only eight other rookies now remained in the hotel.

While Buffy was out with the Cleveland team, Faith had taken the other girls out for what was meant to be a quick and easy patrol to work off some of their excess energy. But only a block away from the Hyperion, they'd been attacked by a group of twenty demons of at least three different species.

"Only nineteen of them attacked us," Faith explained to the group of ragtag demon fighters that were all gathered in Wesley's office. "The last one just kind of stood back and watched. By the time we managed to kill enough of the ones attacking us, the last guy was gone."

"I saw him walking away," Vi piped up. "He wasn't running, or scared. It was almost like his job was just to observe us and... I don't know. Maybe report back to someone?"

"Oh dear," Giles said, removing his glasses and cleaning them. "They were testing you. I feared something like this might happen in response to awakening all the Slayers. We should warn Buffy, have her return immediately. Willow, would you mind?"

The redhead immediately pulled a cell phone from her pocket and typed out a text message to her friend.

"I think we're going to have to accelerate our time table and try to get out of Los Angeles as quickly as possible," Giles continued, returning his glasses to his face. "Unfortunately though, we're still not having any luck finding teachers who have been exposed to our world. And we haven't decided on a location."

"Actually, Giles," Xander interrupted from where he'd been sitting quietly in the corner, a stack of blueprints spread out on a table in front of him. "I think I've decided on one of the Council's facilities."

After it had been decided that they would open a school, Xander had focused on finding a possible location. Wesley had been able to provide the carpenter with old blueprints of the Council's remaining properties. Xander had spent the past week, carefully going over each of the buildings, assessing their sizes, layouts and how easily they could be defended from outside attack.

Xander's words had gained the attention of everyone else in the room and the small group quickly gathered around the table. "This one here," the carpenter said, gesturing to one of the papers on the table and then pointing at a map. "It's in northern England, not far from Scotland. Seems to be a secluded area so hopefully there won't be any unwanted attention."

"Yes and with this sudden pattern of demon organization, it would be best if the new girls have somewhere to learn without being targeted," Giles agreed. "Go on."

"See this wing?" Xander pointed to the castle blueprints again. "Looks pretty much perfect for student dormitories. We can assign the rooms up top to staff. They're bigger, more like suites really since they have their own washrooms." He moved his hand across the page. "This wing over here seems to have a lot of larger rooms that would work as classrooms. And look, the water and gas pipes here would make it pretty easy to convert one of them into a science lab. And then here in the middle," he pointed again, "is the kitchen and dining room. Looks like there was a library back here. And I'm guessing that this room was some sort of hall, maybe for parties or something? We could turn it into a pretty extensive training room. Maybe not quite as glamourous as a dance hall but definitely functional. And here," he flipped to another page detailing the exterior, "it looks pretty fortified. High walls, look-out towers. We could have sentries posted up here and here to keep watch at night."

"Well done Xander," Giles said proudly. "It seems like a good fit. Now all we need to do is fix it up. And find the aforementioned staff."

"Oh, I might have a way to help with that," Willow said, waving a hand in the air. "Darcy Williams. She's one of the new Slayers. It turns out she graduated from Teachers' College in Canada a couple months ago but hasn't been able to find a job yet as a high school math teacher. If we can get in touch with her right away, she's probably kind of desperate for a job. And if she's a Slayer... well obviously she's been exposed to our world. If we can get her to come train for the summer, then she won't have to take Slayer classes with her own students. It's pretty much per-"

Suddenly the door to the office burst open and an out of breath Jess ran into the room. "Buffy's missing! There was a flash of light and she just disappeared into thin air! Kennedy and Meg are still out there looking for her, but Hannah was hurt so Lucy and I brought her back."

"Wood, Faith, go with Lucy and Jess to meet Kennedy and Meg. Look for clues and then come straight back. Buffy could have been taken anywhere if something teleported her. You won't be able to find her by wandering aimlessly through the city." The new Watcher jumped to his feet at Giles' order and rushed out of the room, followed closely by Faith and the redheaded Slayer. Giles continued handing out orders, "Dawn, start researching demons with teleportation abilities. Willow, can you cast a locator spell?"

"I can try," the witch answered.

"Good. The rest of you, stay here. We don't want everyone to get drawn out into the open if this is some sort of trap," Giles commanded the rookies scattered around the room.

All thoughts of a peaceful night's sleep were quickly forgotten, as the group started working.

* * *

When the spinning stopped and Buffy's eyes had finally readjusted after the blinding flash of light, the Slayer found herself standing in what looked like some kind of temple. The entire room was made of white marble that gleamed in the flickering candlelight. Two rows of columns ran parallel down the length of the chamber towards a dais. On the platform was an altar, behind which stood a woman with white-blonde hair wearing a flowing ivory gown.

"All right, what the _hell_ is going on here?" Buffy demanded, raising the scythe in a defensive position.

"Buffy Summers," the woman spoke in the most beautiful voice Buffy had ever heard. "I've been watching you, trying to find a moment to speak to you but it's impossible to get you by yourself. Forgive me for the theatrics, but I have something to discuss with you privately."

Buffy found herself lowering her weapon and taking a few steps towards the mysterious woman before she checked herself. After all, sometimes the most dangerous beings appeared harmless at first. "Who are you?" she asked suspiciously.

"I am the Messenger," the musical voice answered simply.

"Whose messenger?"

"I believe you call them The Powers That Be," the Messenger replied. "You may lower your weapon, Miss Summers. I do not intend to do you any harm."

"Yeah, like I'll fall for that. I've been doing this job for a long time," the Slayer scoffed, but despite herself she loosened her grip a little on the scythe and took a few steps closer.

"I am well aware of your long service, child. It is for that reason that I have summoned you here. To reward you for what you have done. And to warn you about what is to come," the white-haired woman said in the same calm, soothing voice. "Were you not just lecturing your pupil on the importance of trusting your senses? Do I trigger your... what did you call it? Ah yes. Do I trigger your spidey-sense, Miss Summers?"

The truth was, the mysterious woman wasn't triggering any kind of internal warning system within the Slayer, but Buffy would never admit it. Instead, she remained silent, waiting for the woman to continue.

"As you wish," the Messenger said with a hint of a smile when Buffy continued to hold the scythe at the ready. "You have done The Powers a great service, Miss Summers. You defeated The First, and by so doing have returned the balance between good and evil."

"But The First is still out there, isn't it? I mean can't it come back some day?" Buffy asked.

"The First exists everywhere. It is impossible to destroy, but by returning the balance, it can be kept in check by The Powers. It will not continue harassing you," the Messenger clarified.

"But if it were really defeated there wouldn't just be a balance. There could just be good. No evil at all," Buffy said petulantly.

"I know this is hard for you to understand, Slayer, but in order for the world to continue in harmony there must be balance. There can never be such a thing as an unbalance towards the side of good. For such an unbalance, a desire for light's total domination, would taint the very essence of light and leave it in darkness. I believe you have firsthand experience with such matters, do you not?"

Buffy thought for a moment, trying to digest the Messenger's words before abruptly answering, "Willow! Willow was trying to control everything, to make everything better. But to do that she needed more power and turned to dark magic. Is that what you mean?"

"Exactly. Many terrible things are born from good intentions. Willow's time with the coven helped her to understand what I have just told you," she explained solemnly before a beatific smile covered her face and she continued in a lighter tone, "But it is not my intent to tell you your friend's story when I have summoned you so we may discuss your own."

"My story?"

The Messenger gave Buffy a regal nod. "For seven years you have fought on the Hellmouth. Twice you have died performing your duty, sacrificing yourself for the well-being of others. You have been The Powers' first line of defense. And we are not ungrateful. I have brought you here to offer you a gift. A wish, as it were."

"Whoa! No way!" Buffy exclaimed. "If you know as much as you seem to, then you know that it is _never_ a good idea to use that word."

"A request, then, if that makes you feel more comfortable. The specific words are unimportant. You shall be granted exactly what you desire, without negative consequence. I am not a vengeance demon. I will not twist your words in order to wreak havoc," the white-haired woman assured the Slayer.

Buffy remained uncharacteristically silent for a moment, processing the Messenger's words. _Anything I want..._ "Do I have to make my decision now? Or can I have some time to think about it?"

"Take your time, child," the Messenger encouraged. "Make your decision wisely, for it is not our habit to bestow such gifts frequently."

"How am I supposed to contact you after I've made up my mind?" Buffy asked.

"I will be listening," the Messenger said simply. "Your friends are beginning to worry. I shall send you to them. But first, I must warn you. A new dark is rising, unlike anything you have faced before."

"You know, that's what everyone always says. 'Unlike anything you have faced before.' But I haven't lost yet," Buffy said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

The Messenger gave a slight nod of acknowledgement. "This fight cannot be won with strength alone," she clarified. "But for now, think on what I have told you."

"Wait! Tell me more about whatever is supposed to be happening!" Buffy exclaimed but it was too late. Another flash of light, and then the spinning started again.

* * *

The Scoobies were in full attack mode. Slayers were pacing in the hotel lobby holding weapons, prepared for an ambush or for orders for a rescue mission. Faith, Kennedy and the others had returned half-an-hour ago, with no information that had narrowed the search. Wood, Giles, Dawn and Xander had been searching for information about demons capable of teleportation but had not found anything that matched the situation.

Willow sat in a corner of the office with lit candles placed in a circle around her. She clutched one of Buffy's shirts in her left hand as she muttered words in Latin and then with her right cast a mixture of herbs onto the map sitting in front of her. She opened her eyes, looking at the map before groaning in frustration.

"Any luck?" Giles asked hopefully.

"No," Willow answered in disappointment. "It says she doesn't exist. It's like when I first returned to Sunnydale and I made it so we couldn't see each other. She must be... I don't know in another dimension or something. I could try another spell, but I don't know how long it would take..."

"Maybe we should start researching spells that could take someone away like that?" Dawn suggested. "We've been assuming some sort of demon, but what if it's a witch?"

"Yes, perhaps that's a better strategy, Dawn," Giles responded. "Willow, if the two of you could research possible spells while Wood, Xander and I continue focusing on possible demons?"

Dawn had just found a stack of spell books and settled down with them on the couch next to Willow when loud voices from out in the lobby resounded through the room. The voices were quickly followed by a flood of Slayers making their way into the office.

"Buffy!" Dawn exclaimed, leaping up from the couch and practically tackling her sister.

A chorus of voices began speaking all at once, questioning whether Buffy was hurt and where she had been.

"Everybody slow down!" Buffy yelled over the noise. "I'm fine. But I have a _lot_ to tell you about."


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: Awakening (4/?)  
Author:** dreamingstate47  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Disclaimer:** All television shows, books, movies, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work and the characters, events, and settings thereof are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual. In particular, the characters, settings and plot of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.**  
Pairing:** Willow/Tara but with appearances from all the Scoobies  
**Summary:** Post _Chosen_ fic. A week after the Hellmouth was destroyed, the gang is trying to figure out what to do next. After it's all over, how will Willow adjust when all she really wants is the love of her life back?  
**Author's Note:** As always, thanks to everyone who has read and commented. And I guess there's a bit of a cliff-hanger.

**Part Four**

_"Open your eyes now  
It's time to see  
If you can reach me..._

_She'll be a star now  
I will follow her lead.  
She'll be a scar now  
I will still let her bleed._

_Open your eyes now  
And try to speak  
Like you can see me."_

- Andrew Belle - "Open Your Eyes"  
**  
**

* * *

"Then she told me that it would take more than strength to beat whatever this new Big Bad is but before I could get her to tell me anything more she sent me back. Next thing I knew I was dropped in the middle of the hotel lobby and _they_," Buffy gestured to Faith and the other Slayers gathered in the room, "were all charging at me with swords and axes and stakes."

Faith laughed from where she stood leaning casually against a book shelf. "Just be glad I called them off, B. I think they would have been more than even _you_ could handle."

Willow saw Buffy open her mouth to object but before she could make her retort, Giles interrupted. "Well this is quite unprecedented. There's no record of _any_ Slayer being contacted this way, let alone being _rewarded_ for their service."

"Um," Dawn timidly raised her hand to draw the attention of the group. "I don't want to be the downer here, but can we even trust this woman? Wishes are _bad_ ideas."

"I got _zero_ wiggins from her. And she said that I don't have to use the word 'wish'," Buffy argued. "I can't really explain it, but I felt like I could trust her."

Giles made humming noise in agreement before adding, "Slayer intuition is a very powerful tool. I am more concerned about the new threat she warned you about. You're sure she didn't give you any other information?"

Buffy shook her head. "No. She introduced herself, said that she worked for The Powers. Then we talked about The First and she said that it wouldn't be bothering us anymore. We talked about why there needs to be a balance between good and evil and then..."

As she trailed off, Willow saw the Slayer's eyes flicker in her direction. For a few seconds they held each other's gaze and an unspoken understanding seemed to pass between them.

Finally, Buffy looked away, letting out an uncomfortable cough and continuing her story, "Then she told me about my wish, gave me a short warning that a new dark was rising and sent me back. She really wasn't very generous with the details."

Giles began his usual habit of unnecessarily cleaning his glasses as he began to speak, "Well this must have something to do with the recent trend of organized demon activity. Species that normally have nothing to do with each other are beginning to hunt in packs. It's highly unusual."

"Kinda like the whole Adam-situation actually," Willow pointed out.

"Yes," Giles agreed. "And Faith's description of tonight's ambush suggests that there are more. For a single demon to remain out of the fight, presumably to report back to someone else means that something larger is organizing them. The question is, what?"

Xander started laughing and everyone turned confused gazes towards him before he explained, "I only have one eye, and even I can see that that's the question. Bit obvious there, Giles." A chorus of uncomfortable laughter echoed through the room and Willow saw Buffy's body grow tense as Xander made light of his missing eye.

"Yes, well. Forgive me for stating the obvious," Giles said in acknowledgement. "I think it's becoming too dangerous for so many Slayers to be staying in one city. It's drawing the attention of the demon community. I suggest that we accelerate our time table."

Buffy hummed in agreement. "I think Kennedy's squad has been doing a good job and she's leading them well." The blonde looked to Faith and the dark Slayer gave an answering nod. "I don't think there's much more she can learn with Faith and I hovering over her shoulder. And the rest is really just getting used to each other."

"All right, then. Kennedy, Wood perhaps it's time for you to leave for Cleveland?" Giles prompted receiving a chorus of agreements from the Cleveland squad. "As for the rest of us, Xander has found a location for our school and I agree that it is quite suitable for our needs."

"It's going to need some work though," Xander cautioned. "But I think if we can get a good construction team together it should be ready by September."

"So I guess we should get over there as soon as possible," Buffy concluded. "Are we going to be able to stay there while the renovations are done?"

"We should be able to," the carpenter answered. "As far as I can tell from the blueprints the dormitories won't need any work. It's the other wing that we'll be using for classrooms that will take some work. Of course it's been a while since the place has been used so cleaning it up will take a while. We might need to stay in a hotel for at least a few days at first."

"I may be able to have a friend in England ready some rooms for us," Giles said. "But we can plan the specifics later. It seems that the sun has already risen and none of us has slept. I suggest that we adjourn for a few hours and try to get some rest. We can continue after lunch."

A wave of bobbing heads ran through the room at the Watcher's suggestion and one by one the group filed out of the office and up to their rooms.

* * *

With most of the rookie Slayers sent home for the summer, rooms had been reassigned so that the group of Sunnydale refugees only took up one floor of the Hyperion instead of two. The new arrangement meant that Willow now had a small room to herself instead of having to share with the Summers sisters.

The redhead was especially grateful for the privacy the night after Buffy's meeting with the Messenger. Willow stood in her darkened room, staring out the window at the night sky. The city lights made it almost impossible for her to see the stars but still the redhead searched for Tara's special constellations. Since her lover's grave had been destroyed along with the rest of Sunnydale, Willow liked to consider 'The Big Pineapple' as Tara's final resting place. And after a tedious day of research, all Willow wanted was a tiny piece of her soul mate that she could at least see if not physically touch.

Frustrated with the artificial light polluting the sky, Willow moved from standing by the window to sitting cross-legged on her bed. She took a deep breath and then slowly released it. Closing her eyes, the witch willed her mind to settle into a meditative state. She reached out with her senses, feeling the Earth's energy ebb and flow around her.

It wasn't long until she felt Tara's familiar presence surrounding her. Since performing the spell to awaken the Slayers, Willow had not actually _heard_ Tara again - she suspected she never would - but if she concentrated on it, she could sense the blonde witch's spirit close by her. It soothed the constant heart ache she felt, comforted her when nothing else would. Willow sank deeper into her meditation, letting Tara's calming presence block out the rest of the world until the only thing that mattered were their two souls twined together. As always, the sensation was bittersweet and made the redhead crave physical contact, but she thanked any power that was listening for allowing her to at least experience this.

The peaceful moment was interrupted by a soft knock on the door and Willow sighed as she slowly blinked her eyes open. The redhead swung her legs off the bed and made her way over to the door. She glanced through the peephole before quickly opening the door, seeing her best friend on the other side. "Buffy? It's kinda late. Is everything okay?" Willow asked as she stepped back in a silent invitation for the blonde to enter the room.

The Slayer walked through the door but didn't sit down as Willow expected. Instead she began pacing quickly back forth across the length of the room. Knowing that in her friend's agitated state it could take her a while to express her thoughts, the redhead flicked on the ceiling light before making herself comfortable on the bed, content to wait until Buffy was ready to talk.

The blonde stopped her pacing abruptly, standing in front of the dresser and fingering a small stack of letters that Willow had neatly placed next to her wallet. "You got your new I.D.s?" Buffy asked in reference to one of the envelopes.

"I did," Willow answered her friend's attempt at small talk. "It came in the mail a couple days ago. I even managed to go and get a new bank card and credit card yesterday, now that I can prove I am who I say I am. It's awfully inconvenient that we didn't think to bring that kind of stuff on the bus with us. But I think Xander's came today. Don't worry Buffy, yours will get here in a couple days," Willow reassured the Slayer even though she highly doubted that Buffy's anxiousness was caused by her missing identification.

"Yeah..." the blonde agreed absentmindedly before continuing to pace.

"Buffy, just talk to me," Willow urged, patting the bed in an invitation for her friend to sit down.

Almost reluctantly, the Slayer plopped herself down on the foot of the bed so that she was facing her friend. "I just..." she trailed off before releasing a long breath and trying again, "I don't know what to ask for. I keep going back and forth and... I just don't know what to do." She gave the redhead a pleading look. "I need someone to tell me what to do. What would you...?"

Willow smiled sadly and answered gently, "Buffy, you _know_ what I would do. But I can't make this decision for you." She gave her friend a reassuring smile. "If you need someone to listen while you rant though, well then I'm all ears. What are you thinking about?"

"I keep thinking I could have my mom back," Buffy answered truthfully. "I'm so afraid that I'm not doing a good enough job with Dawn, that I'm not enough for her. And if I brought Mom back then..." A faint smile covered the Slayer's face for a moment before it faded away and she continued, "But then I think that Mom got to live her life. She had kids, had a job she loved, got to experience things before she died. And she's happy where she is. I mean when I died... she seemed happy there."

Willow inhaled sharply, the thought that her friend had been reunited with her mother never having occurred to the witch before. "Buffy, I am so sorry. If I had known, I wouldn't have brought you back. I was just so afraid that you were being tortured and-"

The Slayer reached out and squeezed Willow's leg, cutting her off before the redhead could fall into a panicked babble. "Willow, it's okay," Buffy said honestly. "You were just doing what you thought was right. And it's not like I'm never going to get back there. I don't plan on dying anytime soon but you know, in like eighty years or something when I'm a little old Slayer lady with false teeth and white hair, I'll get to go back. Only then, everyone else will be there too." A genuine smile covered her face, the likes of which Willow hadn't seen in a long time.

"Yeah..." the redhead answered noncommittally. After her rampage last spring, Willow doubted that her afterlife experience would be the same as her friend's. She gave an uncomfortable cough, willing the morbid thought to the back of her mind before changing the subject, "So what other things are you thinking of asking for?"

The smile faded from Buffy's face, replaced by an expression of confusion as she answered, "Honestly? Lots of things. I think about asking for Angel's soul to be permanent but... he'd still be a vampire and immortal and... It would just be so complicated. So then I think what if he was human? But I know that he would never agree to that. He wants to be able to make amends for everything he's done and if he were human, he wouldn't be as capable."

"Have you asked him about it?" Willow asked. "If that's something you want, don't rule it out before talking to him."

"I guess," Buffy responded. "But there are other things too. I could get Xander's eye back. I know maybe that sounds a little trivial when I could ask for _anything_ but it's my fault he lost it. And whenever I look at him it just... He was just being good ole' Xander, you know? Sticking with me. And I couldn't do anything to stop it from happening. Or I could get Anya as an apology. Or I could ask for Ta- Willow, if you ask me to, you know I'll get her for you in an instant, don't you?"

Willow inhaled sharply through her nose as she let the idea take hold for just a moment. One little sentence spoken to her best friend, and Willow could have everything she ever wanted. It was right there, within her grasp. Images of lazy mornings curled up in bed, passionate nights, whispered words of endearment, holidays, birthdays, a wedding, babies, _forever_ all ran through the redhead's mind. But then Willow forced the images away. She knew that she could never allow herself to ask Buffy for something so precious and imagining the 'what if's was just too painful.

"Buffy, I can't ask you for that," she answered in a soft, sad voice. "This gift is _yours_. Nobody else's. I know you want to choose what will be best for everyone, but you can't do that. You deserve to have what you want, Buffy. This time, you need to be selfish. And nobody will blame you for that."

Buffy nodded in consent, but for a fraction of a second Willow thought she saw a mischievous smile play across the Slayer's face, as if she were concocting a plan. Before Willow could think too much on it, the blonde had stood up and moved to give the seated witch a slightly awkward hug. "Thank you, Will. I think I know what to do now." And then suddenly, she was walking quickly towards the door.

"Wait!" Willow said, slightly confused by the abrupt end to their conversation. Buffy stopped on her way to the door and turned to look at her friend. Her body leaned lightly back against the dresser, her hands at her sides, resting on the surface behind her. "Where are you going? You're not going to tell me what you decided?"

"I'm going to talk to Angel," was the only answer Buffy gave before she pushed off of the dresser and walked out of the room.

* * *

The next afternoon saw Willow, Dawn and Giles continuing in their long search for Slayers and teachers. Xander sat off to one side of the office making plans for the renovations that would need to be done before the school could be opened. Kennedy and Wood sat in a corner discussing their imminent move to Cleveland, the Slayer studiously ignoring the redhead on the opposite side of the room. Faith had taken the other rookies outside and was leading them through a workout.

No one had seen or heard anything from Buffy all day. According to Dawn, the blonde had not returned to their room after her conversation with Willow the night before. And after Buffy failed to make an appearance at both breakfast and lunch, the Scoobies began to assume that the Slayer had made her wish and was holed up with Angel indulging in some private celebrations. So when Buffy waltzed into the office just as everyone was getting ready to adjourn until after dinner, Willow was more than a little surprised, having given up hope of seeing her friend at all that day.

Buffy marched straight up to the redhead, flashed her the brightest smile Willow thought she had ever seen and announced, "I made my wish!"

The Slayer's grin was infectious and Willow found herself smiling back as she asked in a playful tone even though she suspected she already knew the answer, "And what did you get?"

Buffy pointed at her shoes, lifting one foot up and planting it on the coffee table next to Willow's laptop. "How do you like my new boots?"

The redhead looked down at the boot in front of her, confused until a horrifying sense of familiarity washed over her. She'd seen these boots before through a shop window. She brought her gaze back up to look accusingly at her grinning friend. "You didn't?"

The blonde's smile just grew wider as she gave an emphatic nod. "You told me to be selfish."

Willow jumped to her feet, surprised by the anger that was beginning to course through her. "Yeah, but I thought you would use it on something better than _shoes_. If I had known, I would have bought you the damn boots myself!" she half-yelled, not caring about the room full of people staring at her.

Buffy's smile grew softer and she reached one hand up to gently rub Willow's arm. "I know. I just thought you'd be interested in seeing the new boots you bought me." Her other hand disappeared for a moment into her jacket pocket, pulling something out and handing it to her friend. "This is yours."

Willow looked down, seeing her own wallet now resting in her hand. She was so confused. "Buffy, I don't understand..." Her voice was broken as she looked back up to meet Buffy's gaze.

Her friend didn't explain. Instead she just took a step to the side so that Willow had a clear view of the office door.

All the air left Willow's lungs and her heart skipped a beat. She was vaguely aware of the series of gasps that rang through the room but her focus remained fixed on the figure standing in the doorway. The silence seemed to last for an eternity before finally she managed to find her voice again.

"T-Tara?"


End file.
